Warcraft: Soul Trapping and Sorcery
by Lord22
Summary: The Alliance and Horde have united as one to battle the Burning Legion, and save Grom Hellscream from himself. Unfortunately, soul trapping is rather rare skill in good guys, and Jaina's solution seems a touch worse than the problem.
1. Magical Misconceptions

**Warcraft III: Soul Trapping and Sorcery**

**Chapter One:**

**Lordaeron:**

**Ruins of Dalaran:**

**Main Scourge Base:**

It was two weeks after the fall of Dalaran, and Arthas Menethil was bored out of his mind. He gazed over the blighted wasteland that was the horizon with dull, blue green eyes, his long white hair blowing in the wind as he waited atop the shattered remains of the Violet Citidels walls.

"I spy with my little eye..." began his right hand Lich, Kel'thuzad. "Something beginning with-"

"Ruins." said Arthas in a tired tone.

"How did you guess, Prince Arthas?" asked Kel'thuzad. "I didn't even give you a letter."

"Because I said corpses last turn, and that just about covers everything in this entire region." replied the Lich Kings Champion. "Seriously, Kel, we've been at this for the whole day, isn't there anything else to do out here."

Kel'thuzad paused. "Well... ordinarily I would study the numerous ancient tomes that had been collected in the city of Dalaran, but Archimond kind of blocked up the entrance to the library with his world destroying magic."

"Wonderful." commented Arthas before they both began to think again.

After a moment Arthas glanced up at his Skeletal friend. "So, are you certain that there are no more villages in the region to pillage." He looked back over the burning city, hoping to catch sight of a self rightous Paladin to duel. He was disappointed

"Quite." replied the Lich apologetically "I'm afraid that we were very thourough on our first run through. Besides Tichondrius has reserved the rest of Lordaeron for Lord Archimond. We **could** try to burn a few, but if we got caught, then Archimond might kill us out of boredom."

"Damn." muttered Arthas "Nice to know that my devoted service to the Legion's unholy goals is rewarded with scorn, and indifferance."

"If it's any consolation, Prince Arthas, Mal'ganis didn't consult me when he assigned me to be killed by you."

"But I thought that the Lich king told you how our encounter would end?" said Arthas.

"Well..." started Kel'thuzad.

...

_**Flashback:**_

_**Lordaeron:**_

**The Temple of Almost Certain Damnation:**

_ "Master." said Kel'thuzad over his psychic link. "I have successfully completed my mission, permission to withdraw."_

_ There was a pause._

_** "Permission denied."**__ came the Lich Kings response __**"You still need to get killed so I can ressurect you later in the Sunwell."**_

_"...Wouldn't it just be a lot simpler for me to teleport out, turn myself into a Lich normally, and then skip the entire invasion of Quel'thalas."_

_ Another pause._

_**"Perhaps." **__replied the Lich King __**"But on the other hand I'd have to change my calender, and that is way to much hassle."**_

_ "But I'm about to be ripped to shreds by angry Paladin." pointed out the Necromancer._

_**"I don't see how that's my problem."**__ replied Ner'zhul with a mental shrug, before cutting the link._

_ "Damn." said Kel'thuzad "Well, maybe I'll get lucky and win."_

_ The mental link was suddenly reestablished with Ner'zhul laughing __**"I wouldn't count on it. Your totally going to die."**_

...

**Lordaeron:**

**Ruins of Dalaran:**

**Main Scourge Base:**

"...and, then you beat me to death with a giant hammer." finished the Lich.

"Yeah, sorry about that." said Arthas with an embarrassed smile.

"Do not concern yourself my Prince, you were only doing your job." replied the Lich "Besides, I can move better now anyway without that pesky arthretis."

"Well as long as things worked out." muttered Arthas, glancing back to the horizon. "Still, that still leaves what we're supposed to do while we're waiting for Archimond to actually give us a mission."

"Well..." started Kel'thuzad "Do you want to play chess."

"Eh, sure, why not." said Arthas, and they walked off to search for a board.

...

**Kalimdor:**

**Somewhere in the Barrens:**

**Alliance and Horde camp:**

It was a bright, and sunny day for the Barrens, which is to say it was hot as hell. The area around the Alliance and Horde camp was about as exciting as could be expected, which is to say unbearably dull. For her part Jaina Proudmoore once again thanked the elements for Ice spells, because without them she would passed out from exaustion, even in her white belly shirt, and form fitting white pants.

She glanced at the Warchief before her, inwardly wondering how he could stand to wear pitch black armor in a place like this. Perhaps Orcs were just better in the heat than humans. They had apparently lived in a desert world at one point.

She suddenly realized that Thrall had finished his request.

"So let me see if I have got this straight." she said, pushing her light blonde hair back "You want me to create a soul gem."

"Yes." replied Warchief Thrall, wondering to himself if she had actually been listening.

"You know..." said Jaina "The sort that traps souls."

"Yes." What kind of Arcane magic user was this person anyway.

"The sort of Soul Gem, that traps souls of beings on the level of Grom Hellscream."

"Indeed." said Thrall, holding back his frustration. "Now can you do it or not."

There was a pause, in which Jaina resisted the urge to smash her head against the table. "I'm terribly sorry, but there is a slight problem with your master plan." she said in as calm a tone as she could manage "I'm a Mage, not a Warlock."

"...I wasn't aware there was a differance." said Thrall honestly.

Jaina looked offended.

"Of course there's a differance!" she said "Mages are people who spends years studying to increase and control their power, like my late master Antonidas. Warlocks are just idiotic hedge wizards who are too stupid to figure out that making a deal with Demon **never **pays. Like that Orcish Warlock, Gul'dan."

"Gul'dan may have been a blackhearted monster." said Thrall "But he was also among the most intelligent orcs to ever ever walk dreanor."

Jaina took this into account.

"I pity your species." she said sympatheticly.

"Well that was rather uncalled for."

"You compared my order to Warlocks." replied Jaina "Anyone else would have obliterated you from existance for such an insult."

"I don't see why that is so serious an insult." replied Thrall bluntly.

"Because Warlocks don't **work **for their power." replied the Sorceress "They just kind of steal it from other people who earned their magic, or sap it from the twisting nether. And we all know what that did to your world."

"So..." began Thrall "In essence Warlocks destroy the worlds they live in, because they are too lazy to use their own magic."

"Precisely." said Jaina "Calling a mage a Warlock is the ultimate sign of disrespect for their abilities."

"I see." said Thrall "I apologise, I did not mean to offend."

"Don't worry, you didn't know." said Jaina.

"You know, my people hate Warlocks so much that we've banned arcane magic entirely."

"Now that's dedication."

...

**Somewhere in Northrend:**

_"Damn it I hate warlocks." _said Ner'zhul telepathically as he watched the verbal wordplay between orc and human. _"Bunch of power stealing hacks."_

_"But weren't you a Warlock at one point."_ asked Anub'arak as he stood guard by the frozen Throne. _"In fact, isn't **all** of your power stolen from other people."_

There was a pause.

_"Anub'arak do you wish to be sealed back inside the box."_ asked Ner'zhul politely.

_"Please don't send me back there."_ said the King of Azjol Nerub in a small voice.

_"Then be silent. Bitch."_

_..._

**Alliance and Horde camp:**

"Moving on." said Thrall "Shouldn't you at least theoretically know how trap Souls."

"Of course not." said Jaina "The Kirin Tor had all the data on it destroyed years ago."

"Why?"

"Aside from the questionable morality of such spells. It was a PR nightmare." she stretched her arms outward. "And before you ask, no, I'm not going to try to figure it out right now. We don't have the time or equipment for such experiments."

"So what now then?" asked Thrall.

"Well... you could try contacting the remnants of the Shadow Council."

"Yeah..." said Thrall. "I kind of killed them all years ago."

"Well, then we'll just have to find another way." said Jaina "Because I don't know where to start."

"Now hold on." said Thrall "You have a lot of friends from the Kirin Tor, perhaps some of them know how to trap souls."

"If they did, they've probably gone on to join the Burning legion at this point." replied Jaina bitterly. "Although..." she paused "I'm going to need to make a phone call."

...

**Dalaran:**

**Scourge Base Camp**

"And that is checkmate." said Arthas as his rook trapped Kel'thuzads king. They had balanced the board upon one of the fallen stones of masonry, as even now sat with the chess board between them.

The wind whisled through Kel'thuzad's bones as he pretended to examine the board. "Hmm, well done sir." he said "I didn't see that coming at all."

"You say that every time we play chess." muttered Arthas as he began to put the pieces back in their places "Quite frankly I'm beginning to wonder if your just letting me win."

"Well it **is** technically my duty to ensure your ultimate victory." argued Kel'thuzad, and had he had a face, Arthas though he might have been smirking.

"Whatever." replied the Death Knight "In any case, do you think there are any Paladins left around here."

"The answer was no five minutes ago, milord." said the Lich modesty "I sincerely doubt the answer has changed in the last five minutes."

"But I'm bored!" yelled Arthas "I mean, we've spent the last six hours looking for something to do. God I hate being so damn efficent!" he paused, before pulling out a phone. "Hold on a minute I've got an idea."

...

**Scourge rearguard:**

**Sylvanas' base camp:**

Sylvanas Windrunner was reflecting on the nature of undeath when she was jogged from it by a phone call. She ignored it completely, preferring to continue gazing out over the destruction she had wrought. She was a statuesque woman, though she was admittedly short for a High Elf, and her skin was darker than any of her kinds became naturally. Her clothes consisted of a bellyshirt and pants that clung to her voluptous form.

Her red eyes narrowed in annoyance as she realized that phone kept on ringing. "Damn it!" she curseed "Why did Arthas insist on us having these things! It's not as if thwey are actually necassary in any way shape or form.

The ringing continued, and she finally snarled in frustration and grabbed the phone, before putting it to her ear. "What the fuck do you want?" she asked bluntly.

"Hello" came the nasal voice of a Stormwind noble who kept prank calling her. "Is your refrigerator running."

"Listen to me you pathetic waste of space." she said in a calm tone to fool who had called her. "I have told you to stop harrassing me repeatedly, and you have ignored me. As such, I have decided that if I recieve one more phone call from you, or anyone else, within the next hour, I will brutally murder you some day."

"Well that seems a bit harsh-" began the person.

"It won't be quick, either. Your torments screams will echo throughout the universe, and even the most terrible of Dark god shall weep to know that any being ever suffered as you had. Fuck off, and never call me again." she hung up, and tossed the phone at the rubble. Unfortunately it was military grade, and thus didn't break,

"Now then, maybe I can get some peace before-"

The phone rung again.

"That son of a bitch." she hissed in fury as she picked up the phone with a snarl, only to see that it held a number that she didn't recognize. As such, she opted to show restrain. She put the phone to her ear and spoke in a calm, controlled, and absolutely deadly voice. "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If your a telemarketer, or looking for a donation to charity, then I can tell you that I don't have any money. What I do have is a very specific set of skills. Skills that I have learned over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you hang up this phone right now, without saying anything, then that will be the end of it. I will not hunt you. I will not persue you. But, if you annoy me even slightly I will hunt you. I will find you. And I will kill you." she paused "Then I'll kill your girlfriend. And your little dog, snookems. And then your cat, and your horse, and any other pets you might have. After that I'll slaughter your family, and your friends. And their friends, and any aquintances which you and they may or may not have possibly met. Then I'll kill the birds who nest in the tree's nearby your house, and slaughter everyone in the few locations where you've visited. Then I'll go get a priest to bring you all back to life so I can murder you all again, only more slowly. And the second time I'll add a few litters of puppies and kittens to the bodycount. Now what is it going to be?"

"...I was just about to order pizza, and I was wondering if you wanted anything." came the voice of Arthas Menethil, sounding rather shocked.

"Oh." said Sylvanas, mildly surprised, but otherwise uneffected. "Small pizza, onions and green peppers, thin crust."

"...What, that's it?" he asked.

"I don't like meat." she said with a shrug.

"That's not what I meant." replied Arthas in an annoyed tone. "You just more or less outright stated you planned to horribly murder me twice, along with hlaf the population of the world, just because you thought you were being called by someone who annoyed you. It's traditional to **apologise** in these situations."

"Your presence always annoys me." she said with a shrug, though she knew he couldn't see it. "So I'm going to do that to you next chance I get. Or at least I would, if I wasn't already planning countless thousand deaths for you already. So which place are you ordering from, I need to know the prices."

"Eh, it's a demonically run place in the twisting nether." explained Arthas casually "Really good service, and excellent food."

"Well that's more than can be said for Quel'thalas, even pre invasion." she said with a shrug "You would be surprised at just how bad it was. We elves may have been masters of magic, with a perfect society greater than any other in the universe, but it was next to impossible to find a good pizza place."

"I noticed." said Arthas "Anyway, I'm going to make the call once I hang up, I'll pay for it."

"Thanks." she said "I may consider slightly decreasing the harshness of the horrifying torments I intend to put your through when the day of reckoning comes."

"Right, fine whatever." said Arthas "I have to go."

"Bye." she said before he pressed the off button. She turned off her phone and gazed into the distance mournefully "VENGEANCE SHALL BE MNE!" she screamed to the heavens suddenly, before she began to wonder if she should have ordered red peppers as well.

...

"Well, she's about the same as always." said Arthas as he hung up.

"Still bitter about that whole burning down her country thing?" asked Kel'thuzad.

"Yeah..." said Arthas "Hey Kel, could you get me the phone book."

...

A few hours after they had recieved, and eaten their orders, a ringing sound filled the air, and Kel'thuzad floated up quickly, raising his hands as dark fire crackled on his skeletal palms.

"Calm yourself." said Arthas, reaching into his capes inner pockets. "It's just my cell phone again."

"Oh." said Kel'thuzad, before looking a bit confused. "You know, I probably should have asked this before, but how do we have Cell phones?" he said at last.

Arthas chuckled in amusement as he pulled out his still ringing tone "We have tanks, flying machines, and instant teleportation, and you are complaining about instant communication."

"Good point." conceded Kel'thuzad.

Arthas' eyes widened in surprise as he saw the caller ID, then he flipped open the phone, and put it to his ear.

"Oh, hello Jaina! How have you been!"

...

**Authors Note: **So yeah, this is an idea I had a while back, and never got a chance to use. It was inspired by that one mission in the last Warcraft game, where Jaina provides Thrall with a Soul Gem to capture Grom, who has turned evil.

My first thought when the mission began was basically "wait a minute, Jaina shouldn't have a spell like that . So I came up with this concept.

Is this going to stick to lore? I don't know, I'm still working on it. It will probably be shorter than my other fics though.

Please review, and tell me what you think.

**Author's Edit: **I added a seen which introduces Sylvanas' character a bit earlier, and made a few edits to make things flow better, and maintain consistancy of story.


	2. An Offer you can't Refuse

**Warcraft III: Soul Trapping and Sorcery**

**Chapter Two:**

**Main Alliance and Horde Base Camp:**

"Hello Arthas." said Jaina, not exactly sure how to go about asking what she needed to ask.

"It's nice to hear from you." said Arthas in an absurdly casual tone, given what had happened between the last time they had spoken "I haven't seen you since that whole mess at Stratholme. How have you been doing."

"...I'm sorry, what?" asked Jaina, taken aback at his informal greeting.

"I asked you how you've been." said Arthas. "It's only common courtesy, after all."

"Oh" she said, somewhat dumbfounded that this conversation was happening. "Uh... I suppose I'm doing alright. I've managed to get some new allies against the burning legion, and they are pretty powerful. So I guess I can't complain." she hesitated "How are you."

"I am doing well enough." said Arthas "My boss is something of a jerk, though. Would you believe that mere moments after I had summoned him into the world, his first action was to demote me."

"That's rather... impolite." said Jaina, still somewhat in shock.

"And to add insult to injury, he gave control of it to Tichondrius of all people. Tichondrius! The Dreadlord who never once even lifted a finger to aid me while I was corrupting the Sunwell, and sacking Dalaran. I had to kill the entire Kirin Tor with practically no help, and all he did was make demands. Oh, you'll be pleased to know that, your Master Antonidas put up a far better fight than I expected him to."

"...Did he."

"Oh yeah, summoned a magical forcefield to gradually destroy all undead. Fortunately all the magical power in the world doesn't help much against a runeblade to the face."

There was a pause, in which Jaina realize the full implication of that statement.

"I think I'm going to have to modify my previous answer." said Jaina after a moment "My week has been pretty terrible all things considered."

"My condolances." said Arthas sincerely. "Anything I can do to help."

"You could stop killing people." suggested Jaina.

"Not really an option, right now." said Arthas "Considering that I'm not killing anyone right now anyway. I'm basically on guard duty."

"Oh cry me a river." said Jaina sarcastically. "I've had to join forces with the Horde thanks to you ditching the Alliance." she ranted "And this is literally hours after they staged an unprovoked attack upon my people. And to top it all off, I'm now expected to help _save_ Grom Hellscream of all people."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"The Prophet claims that he's important to the future, and the last time we ignored that guy, Lordaeron got burned down." replied Jaina pointedly "Oh, and he's secretly Medivh.

"What?" said Arthas in surprise "But, wasn't Medivh supposed to be some kind of all powerful Sorcerer? If he's so great, why didn't he just kill Mal'ganis outright, then wipe out the Scourge personally?"

"I don't know." said Jaina sarcasticly "Why doesn't Alexstrasza the so called Lifebinder get off her ass and just fry the Lich King without any fuss."

Silence reigned.

"Actually that's a good question." said Arthas "Where the hell has she been all this time, anyway?"

...

**Continent of Azeroth:**

**Red Dragon Capital:**

"Queen Alexstranza!" called a Red Dragon messenger "Archimond walks this world once more, and even now seeks to destroy all life! If we don't act immediatly, Azeroth is DOOMED!"

The Mistress of the Red Dragon flight remained silent for a moment in contemplation. Her assembled subjects waited with baited breath as she looked up, a decision made at last.

"Eh, it'll work itself out."

...

**Alliance and Horde Camp:**

"Moving on." said Jaina, deciding to get to the point. "I actually called because I need your help with something rather important."

"I see." he said, his voice calculating "And what exactly do you need my humble assistance for?"

"Well..." began Jaina "Remember how I said I needed to rescue Grom Hellscream?"

"Yes, what about him?"

"Well the method we were hoping to use requires a Soul Gem that can be used to trap someones immortal Soul without killing them. I was wondering if you had any advice on how to go about it."

"Well, that might be a problem." admitted Arthas ruefully. "I may be the Lich King's Champion, but I don't have authorization to just pass out information like that. You'd have to either join the scourge, or get special permission before I could teach you that sort of thing."

"Well, that's not an options I'm willing to take." replied Jaina "So I guess I'll just find another-"

"Now wait just a minute." said Arthas, cutting her off "Just because I can't teach you the spells necassary, doesn't mean I can't help you. What's your current location."

"The Barrens of Kalimdor." she replied "Wait, why do you ask."

"Well obviously I'm coming over there." said Arthas.

"What!" said Jaina "No! You don't have to do that!"

"It's nothing to be concerned about." said Arthas "I don't have anything better to do anyway."

"But you'll cause a riot!" she said. "How the hell will I explain it to the men."

"Tell them I'm the Prophet." suggested Arthas "I'll just wear a hood."

"And what if the real Medivh shows up?" she asked.

"Then I'll just kill him." replied Arthas with a shrug. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go pack my things."

"But-" she began.

The phone clicked as Arthas hung up.

"What did I just get myself into?" she wondering with a sigh.

...

**Five Minutes later:**

"So your fiancee turned Death Knight is coming to this camp." said Thrall "And he claims that he intends to aid us in this matter." His tone doubtful. All things considered, Jaina couldn't say she blamed.

"Yes." she said in an annoyed tone. "I can hardly believe it myself."

"Tell me." asked Thrall "Did you actually **think** when you invited him into our camp."

"I didn't invite him." she replied "I just wanted to get the information on how to trap Souls, and he decided to come here. I tried to stop him, but he hung up before I could tell him not to."

"Whether you tried or not." said Thrall "It won't be any comfort to us if we all get killed by him."

"In that matter at least, you may set your mind at ease." said Jaina "Judging from what I heard, he was rather annoyed with his current Demonic master. He might be helping us just to screw over his superiors."

"Still, I must insist that we prepare our men for battle, just in case." said Thrall "The Warsong clan will be here in a few days, and an Alliance between the Lich King's and Grom Hellscream would be a formidable one indeed."

Jaina laughed in genuine good humor "Oh come on Thrall, there is no way that sort of team up will ever happen. With how much of a control freak Arthas is, they would be killing eachother before the end of the day."

Thrall thought back to the last time he had worked alongside Hellscream.

...

**A few days earlier:**

"Okay guys." said Thrall to his assembled Chieftans. "The humans have established three basecamps in areas that are completely out of our path. So as long as we're careful, we should be able to get past without exausting our forces in a pointless battle. Everyone got that?"

There were murmurs of aknowledgement from the Chieftans.

"Okay." said Thrall "Now, let's get moving, and just quietly slip-"

It was right around this time that the Warsong clan arrived in force. As always, they screwed thing up.

"Come my comrades let us burn these pathetic humans!" yelled Grom, pulling out his axe and charging down the hill, his warriors with him. "GROOOM! HEEELLLSCREEAAAM!"

There was a moment of shocked silence as the entire Warsong clan charged straight towards the human camps with all subtlety of raging Dragon.

"By the spirits, he just went in." said one of the Chieftans.

"I really need to stop giving positions of authority to people named Hellscream." muttered Thrall as the pointless carnage ensued.

"Don't worry." said another Chieftan "I'm sure you won't make the same mistake twice."

...

"Excellent point." said Thrall after a moment, before he suddenly glanced back through the tent doors. The sound of arguing voices could be heard outside their tent, though they could not quite make out who was saying them.

"Who is that, I wonder?" said Jaina.

"I gave orders that we would not be disturbed." said Thrall in an annoyed tone "Evidently someone didn't get the message."

The conversation suddenly turned heated, before the sound of a gauntlet hitting flesh was heard, followed by a groan of pain. More voices were raised, some orcish, others human, and the sounds of a full on brawl began to break out.

Thrall had quickly grabbed his Doomhammer from the table even as the fight broke out, and he swiftly walked forward, and pulling aside the tent flap.

Suddenly he was thrown back, as the unconscious body of one of his soldiers rammed into him. They both landed hard on the table, shattering it, and Jaina only just leapt away in time.

She readied a fireball spell as a single, dark cloaked man walked through, his face concealed.

"Who are you!" she said "Identify yourself or I swear I'll blast you into next week!"

The cloaked figure paused, as if surprised. "Oh, right." he said "Jaina, it's me." He removed his hood to reveal the person beneath.

"Arthas?!" said Jaina in surprise "Why are you attacking us?"

"I'm not attacking you." said Arthas defensively "One of your guards refused to let me get by, so I punched one of them in the face and knocked him down."

Jaina looked through the flap to see about thirty or so unconscious soldiers of various races. "And those ones?" she asked skeptically.

"Well after I knocked the first one down, the other guards got annoyed, and drew their weapons. So I knocked them down too, and hurled the last one into this idiot." he said, pointing to Thrall.

"You do realize that he is the Warchief of the Horde." said Jaina in annoyance, as she saw her ally, pushing the soldier off him and standing slowly behind Arthas.

"Well yeah." said Arthas "I just don't care. The Horde stopped being a interesting fifteen years ago."

"RAAAGHHH!" yelled Thrall leaping at Arthas from behind, his Doomhammer raised. Instantly Arthas spun round, drawing Frostmourne, to catch the hammer strike with the flat of the blade.

"Word of advice, Warchief." said Arthas coldly as he pushed Thrall back, and pointing Frostmourne at him. "Back down now, or I'll butcher your entire species while singing Meet Me in Saint Louis."

There was a questioning pause.

"What exactly Saint Louis?" asked Jaina despite herself.

"Absolutely nothing." replied Arthas with a cold smile "Which is exactly what his species of barbarians is about to become if doesn't put the hammer down."

There was a moment of silence.

Then Thrall's eye twitched. "You want me to put the hammer down?" he said in deadly tone.

"Uh oh..." said Jaina, quickly raising her shields, as Thrall began to channel lightning around his Doomhammer, causing it to shine with blue light.

Thrall leapt high into the air screaming a battle cry, as he brought his hammer down towards Arthas. Frostmourne gleamed in cold light, as Arthas brought it up to defend himself.

Their weapons clashed.

A blinding flash of light could be seen for miles.

...

**Meanwhile, atop the Icecrown Glacier:**

"Prince Arthas is certain to be victorious." said Kel'thuzad confidently.

"I would not underestimate the Warchief." said Ner'zhul. "Still, Arthas should be able to crush him."

Anub'arak narrowed his eyes. "Hmph, I suspect the Warchief will come out the victor, if only because of his size advantage."

All eyes turned the third figure, who was watching the show.

"Your all wrong." said the Prophet Medivh as he lounged on a chair over the scrying ball "Just watch, the fight will doubtless be broken up before we can tell who would have actually come out on top."

"Your feeling rather lucky today, aren't you?" asked Ner'zhul.

"Let's just say that I have forseen it." replied the Prophet smugly.

...

The dust settled over the ravaged surrounded, to reveal Thrall and Arthas both breathing heavily. Around them, countless tree's had been obliterated, and the air smelled of burning wood.

Jaina lowered her shield, and looked at two warriors, still facing eachother down.

"Are we done here?" she asked tenatively.

Their exhausted silence was answer enough.

...

**End Chapter Two**

...

**Authors note:**

Well, here is Chapter Two, finished at last. This one was a bit harder to write, but it was fun. Some of the dialogue was awkward to implement though.

Oh, and there is a referance to a popular superhero movie, and popular webcomic in here. Can anyone find them?


	3. Your Traitors are our Informents

**Soul Trapping and Sorcery:**

**Chapter Three:**

**Twelve miles north of the Alliance and Horde encampment:**

Chief Grom Hellscream was having a field day of the best kind, one where the field in question was stained with the blood of his enemies, the su was high, and his enemies were screaming in pain and fear.

He roared in triumph as led his armies through the barrens, cutting a bloody swath through all who dared get in the way of the Warsong clan's rampage. Since this was Kalimdor AKA Everything-trying-to-kill-you-ville, there were quite few things getting in his way.

None of them were fairing very well. It is a very interesting fact that most sentient creatures on Azeroth are suicidal. With a few exceptions, most living beings were perfectly willing to attack an army of thousands with a stick and two of their buddies, even if they had nothing to gain by it.

"Come my warriors!" he cried out as he cut down an unfortunate Quilboar who had leapt at him. "The enemy cannot stand against us! We shall burn their pathetic villages, and destroy any who dare oppose us!"

With those words he roared in bloodlust, and began hacking away at his enemies, roaring the whole way.

The Dreadlord Tichondrius watched from a nearby hillside. He had a bored expression on his face as he surveyed the utter ruin of what was once a prosperous village by Kalimdor standards. "Hmmmph." he muttered "Six out of ten, at best."

Next to him the massive Pit Lord Mannaroth glanced over at the Dreadlord in annoyance. "I think your being too harsh." he huffed. "I would say that he is doing well. He's obliterated three Quilboar villages in the last day."

"Which would be fine." said Tichondrius in a deceptively calm tone "Except for the fact that we don't care about the Quilboars in the slightest. They are irrelevent to the Legions plans, and Hellscream is just wasting time fighting them."

"Hey! I don't tell you how to do your job!" shot back Mannaroth in an annoyed tone. "Although I admit I still don't know exactly what it is that the Dreadlords **do** for the Legion."

"I'm in management." replied Tichondrius smugly "I supervise who we hire, and whether we need to do downsizing."

"Oh please." scoffed Mannaroth. "You Dreadlords talk like your all superior, but when was the last time any of you so called managers have actually done anything for the average Demon besides cut their pay."

"We don't pay you at all."

"Exactly!"

A sudden burst of sappy music from Tichondrius' pocket interrupted their conversation. A voice sang out as Tichondrius fumbled for his cell phone.

"_I used to wonder what friendship could be. Until you all shared it's magic with me"_

Tichondrius fumbled with his phone as he pulled it out, dropping it as Mannaroth looked at him in surprise.

_"Big Adventures, tons of fun, a beatiful heart made full and strong!"_

Mannaroth stared at him in horror.

_"My little pony..._

_ Did you know your all my very best friends..._

"Hold on." said Tichondrius quickly picking up his phone and opening it, before putting it to his ear and speaking withh a snarl.

"This had better be good Arthas." he snarled "I'm in middle of a meeting here."

There was a pause in which someone said something over the phone. "What? Who is this?" he said, before waiting a moment. "You? Why is someone of your rank calling me from the Scourge hotline?"

Another pause. "ARTHAS DID WHAT!" Another pause. "Okay fine. I'll deal with it." said Tichondrius "Thank you for the information." he hung up his phone.

He looked up to see Mannaroth staring at him.

"What?" said Tichondrius.

"...You have the My Little Pony: Friendship is magic theme as your ringtone." said Mannaroth his voice disgusted.

"Look, it really doesn't matter." said Tichondrius quickly

"I think it does." said Mannaroth matter of factly. "It's a show about ponies. And friendship. What the hell kind of demon are you."

"The kind that doesn't judge a show before he has actually seen it." replied the Dreadlord pointedly "Now can we please focus on more important matters. The Champion of the Scourge has begun to help our enemies in their plans."

"Oh my gosh!" said Mannaroth in a mocking voice "Quick! We need to get the elements of Harmony and blast him with the magic of friendship before he can invade Canterlot. The success of the Grand Galloping Gala depends on it!"

"Fuck you Mannaroth." said Tichondrius "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go deal with the **idiot** who commands the Scourge!"

...

**Alliance and Horde Base Camp**

The next morning reports that the Warsong clan had been closing in on their position arrived. They had apparently set up a large base camp to the North, and even now were approaching the combined armies of the Alliance and Horde.

Thus, one final meeting was called to prepare for the approaching army.

"So let me see if I have this straight." said Thrall "The newly corrupted Warsong are headed our way, and your plan for dealing with them is to kill them all, then soul trap Grom after we've killed his entire clan."

"Well yeah." said Arthas "Interesting thing about battles, Thrall, people get killed in them."

"I am well aware of how battles work, Death Knight. But I'm not going to commit mass genocide against my own people just to satisfy your boredom." said Thrall bluntly.

"Well then you need to get your priorities straight." said Arthas as he leaned back in his chair.

"Why you-" began Thrall

"He's baiting you." said Jaina cutting him off. Thrall glared at her and she shrugged. "What? It's the truth. He's trying to get a rise out of you."

"No I'm not." said Arthas "If I were trying to provoke him I'd mention how his clan was exiled from Dreanor because of his peoples unusually close relationship with their Warg mounts. Even Gul'dan found it depraved."

There was a silence so deep and perfect that you could have heard a pin drop during it. Thrall opened his mouth, closed it again, pulled out his hammer, and raised it.

"I'm going to smash your skull in now." he said in an extremely calm voice.

"Hey now." said Arthas, raising his hands in gesture of peace. "There is no need to get angry. I don't judge people by their sexual preferances, no matter how sick and twisted they may be. I accept your cultures preferance for wolves over your own hideous females."

"RAAAAGH!" screamed Thrall in a rage as he leapt forward, only to find himself teleported to the other side of the room.

"Both of you stop it!" said Jaina "We don't have time for this! The Warsong clan will be here any minute, and we can't afford to go into this without a plan."

"Well I..." began Arthas.

"A plan which doesn't involve mass genocide!"

"Actually I was-"

"No." she said giving Arthas a glare "We need the Warsong clan as meatshields against the Burning Legion, every one we spare now is one potentially useful soldier who doesn't die."

"Jaina I was only trying to-"

"For the last time! NO GENOCIDE!"

"I have a plan that might avoid any, and all bloodshed." said Arthas.

There was a pause.

"...I find that rather unlikely." said Thrall.

"That just proves that you haven't considered all the aspects of the situation." said Arthas with a shru "I've done a bit of research on the Horde, and I know for a fact that one can become Warchief through trial by combat."

"...Is that true, Thrall?" asked Jaina looking at Thrall.

"Technically yes." said Thrall thoughfully "But it won't work. I **could** challenge Hellscream to single combat, but that's irrelevent. If he has gone over to the Demons side then he's technically not part of the Horde. If anything he's trying to recreate the old Horde."

"I wasn't suggesting that you challenge him to a duel." said Arthas "I was planning to do it myself."

Thrall laughed aloud "Well that certainly won't work! You have even less claim to such a title than I do!"

"Actually I have a good deal more claim than you do." said Arthas with a smile, before pulling out a sheet of parchment unrolling it, and beginning to read. "I Orgrim Doomhammer, as leader of the Horde, do formally induct the Deathknights into the Horde, so that they might aid us in combatting our enemies magic. Know that their leaders are to be given the same rights and respect as any clan Chieftan." he sighed suddenly "Man the prose on this thing is weak. Oh well, I suppose he was new to writing."

"...Arthas" said Jaina gently "You are aware that he was talking about Teron Gorefiend, and the former members of the shadow council."

"Irrelevent." said Arthas bluntly "He said 'Deathknights' not 'Deathknights with Orcish souls, or 'Deathknights of the first generation.' I am the current Leader of the Deathknights, therefore, I am technically speaking part of the Horde."

"Allow me to savor this moment while I shatter your delusions of Grandeur." replied Thrall before giving a long pause. "But I formally kicked out the Death Knights of the Horde. Assuming that there are any of the original kind left."

"Well then it's a very good thing that Grom Hellscream has struck out on his own." said Arthas "And since he's a big fan of the old ways, it makes perfect sense for his to recognize the Death Knights. Especially since even without the Horde connection, we're both technically working for the Legion."

"And why should we trust you to have our best issues at heart in this matter?" asked Thrall pointedly "Your only here to amuse yourself. You'll probably just turn on us as soon as you gain control."

"Ah, but that's the true brilliance of he plan." he said "The Warsong are well documented in their anti human policies, so even if I win, quite a few of them are liable to defect. And if I die, what have you lost?"

"Nother I would lament being rid of." said Thrall begrudgingly.

"Wow, that line was actually halfway decent." admitted Arthas "If you do a bit more work on it, you might someday be capable of getting through a conversation without being completely verbally trounced."

"Why you-"

"Don't encourgage him, Thrall." said Jaina with a sigh, and the Warchief backed down. Something suddenly occured to her. "Arthas, if you had this plan from the beginning, then why did you suggest the first one."

"It amused me to provoke him." he replied with a shrug. "Still, there is one small issue.

"And what would that be?" asked Jaina, narrowing her eyes.

"See, this plan is a really great one." he said seriously "And with it we'd be able to turn the Warsong clan against the Burning Legion. Slight problem though: my current employer is the Lich King. You know, the guy who **owns** the scourge. And the Burning Legion owns him. So tell me this: why should I help you against the Burning Legion, when it could very well lead to the death of the guy who signs my paychecks."

"Because I have access to the ability to control the raw primal nature of the element without asking permission from a bunch of nature." replied Jaina "And because even my patience has it's limits."

There was a long pause.

"Good answer." admitted Arthas after a moment.

...

_"...And that is why the Alliance and Horde fighting with eachother ceased being interesting years ago." _finished Ner'zhul.

"Indeed." said Kel'thuzad, before they all turned as green mist filled the room.

"Oh no." said Kel'thuzad "What does he want this time."

"What the hell is wrong with you people!" came Tichondrius' voice as he appeared with a flash of dark fire directly in front of Ner'zhul.

_ "Oh, Tichondrius. What an unpleasant surprise." _said the Lich King in annoyance.

"You want to talk about unpleasant surprises!" yelled Tichondriusv "How about you explain to me why your Champion is screwing up the Legions plans for the Orcs." yelled the Dreadlord.

"Will you relax." said Kel'thuzad.

"Relax! Relax!" said Tichondrius "I've just spent the last two months orchistrating the downfall of Kalimdor, and now a member of _my_ army is trying to mess things up! It's a goddamned mutiny!"

_ "Tell me, where did you get this information?" _asked Ner'zhul.

"I got it from a notable scourge officer." replied Tichondrius relaxing slightly "And no, I'm not going to tell you who, so don't even bother asking. Now I'm going to make this real simple for you, Ner'zhul. Either you reign Arthas in, or I will."

_"Fine, fine. Whatever."_ said Ner'zhul _"He'd pretty much outlived his usefulness anyway. I'll deal with the matter in the appropriate manner."_

"Good." said Tichondrius "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do."

He faded from view suddenly, not bothering with the effects this time.

"...So are we actually going to get deal with-"

_"Of course not."_ said Ner'zhul nonchalantly. _"Tichondrius can't actually kill me without losing complete control of the Scourge, and he needs them as shock troops. As such, any plan to punish me for my manipulations will require him to wait until after the Legions victory to work. And if he's alive by the time I'm done with my plans, something will have gone seriously wrong."_

Ner'zhul paused in thought for a moment. "Still,_ only the person in charge of the Scourge forces in Dalaran could have sent that message. That means we have a traitor in our midst. Obviously they must be deal with. Tell me, Kel'thuzad, who did you leave in charge when I summoned you here?"_

There was an awkward silence.

"Uh..." began the Lich nervously. "Well it was..."

...

**Two Hours Earlier:**

"So..." said Sylvanas Windrunner "Your leaving me in charge then?"

"Indeed." said Kel'thuzad "As long as you think you can handle being in charge of our remaining forces for a bit."

"Oh sure." said Sylvanas with a smile "I'll be very careful with how I make use them."

"Good." said Kel'thuzad "Well, I have to go." with a flick of one bony hand he teleported away. Sylvanas waited a few moments before she was sure he was gone. Then she turned to a nearby Necromancer.

"Putress! Get me twenty tons of dynamite and the Dreadlord hotline! It's time to even the scales!"

...

_"Sylvanas!" _yelled Ner'zhul incrdulouslty _"You left Sylvanas Windrunner in charge of the entire army! What the hell is wrong with you?!"_

_"I thought she could be trusted." _said Kel'thuzad defensively.

"Sylvanas couldn't be trusted with a sack of plagued grain, much less our entire military! You'll be lucky to have an army when you get back! Get to Lordaeron, and take command now!"

"Uh... just to let you know, I'm really sorry about the whole-"

**_"WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE!"_**

...

"Hey Thrall, do you ever get the sense that everything in the entire world is about to get infinitely worse for everyone involved." asked Jaina as they were making plans for when Arthas would inevitably betray them.

"Do I ever?" asked the Orc dryly, before pointing over to where Arthas was looking at a collection of maps, probably preparing plans to counter their plans "I've been feeling it since he got here."

...

**Authors note:**

Well here we are at last, chapter three of Soul Trapping and Sorcery. Sorry it took me so long to get this out, while I had the general outline ready from the time I posted chapter two, I ran into a bunch of issues with making the various plotlines work.

Also, about the scene with Mannaroth and Tichondrius, I honestly don't know where that came from. It was just a random idea that was too funny a mental image to not use. Please note that I do not in any way support flaming someone who enjoys My Little Pony Friendship is magic. Mannaroth is kind of a jerk, and as the head of the Pit Lords he's practically legally obligated to be a jerk about it.

Review and I shall be very happy.


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